Thirucchandhaviruttham- 116th verse- He vows to protect the Saranagathan! Do not worry, oh mind!

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesika namah:

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Thus in the way of telling the mind, AzhwAr mentions

that mOksham is imminent for him; Thus mOksham is in

the hands; There is no sorrow; worry. Thus he enjoys

telling himself in the next few verses.

 

maaRuseytha vaaLarakkan

naaLulappa, anRilankai

neeRuseythu senRukonRu

venRikoNda veeranaar,

vERuseythu thammuLennai

vaiththidaamai yaal,naman

kooRuseythu koNdiRantha

kuRRameNNa vallanE. (116)

 

The most valorous Ramaa Piraan- the Mahaaveeran- the

most victorious One- who, in order to finish off the

life of cruel raakshasa rAvaNa [who was bent upon

doing all acts displeasing to Him], went to lankA

[where SitA was abducted and kept], destroyed all

asurAs, burnt lankA city to ashes; Such most merciful

Raama Piraan- would He let my paapams be counted by

Yama [when those paapams have already been

extinguished by Rama Himself due to his grace on His

Asrithar-me]; Will he (yama) be able to categorize and

see my sins? [No]

 

I have mind set to do all that is pleasing to the Lord

and have taken a pledge to do that [anukoolyasya

sankalpam]; Always he (Ravanan) wants do to only

prathikkolam to the Lord; He wills to do only what

displeases Him; He abducted PiraaTTi and angered Rama;

He had the false ego that he was inferior to none; He

worshipped devathanathram (demi god) and prayed and

obtained a sword (by name Chandra haasam) and hence

was more proud of the same and exhibited arrogance

that there is none equal to Him in all worlds. Rama

could not tolerate any further; But still, the most

merciful Lord was willing to forgive him for all his

sin, if he surrenders at His (Rama's) feet.

 

When Vibheeshana had performed his Saranagati,

Sugreeva and others objected to Rama and requsted him

not to believe his surrender and not to accept him as

it may endanger Rama himself. Rama mentioned that,

whoever surrenders to Him once, he will protect them

grant them abhayam and it is His vow. Rama also said,

" whether it is Sugreeva, Vibheesana or Ravana, it is

the same- whoever surrenders, He (Rama) will accept

the Saranagathi and protect them " . vibheesanOvaa,

sugreevaa yathi vA rAvaNa swayam. What a compassion

and dayA! What merciful Lord is He! Sarvaanugraha

paran- Rama Piraan- will He ever leave me? Never. He

has burnt all my paapams as if they are thrown into

the fire and are burnt completely. Can Yama be able to

think of categorizing my sins, and decide which

paapams deserve which punishment etc? Not at all.

[Even punYa is included here and thus fruits arising

out of both puNya and paapams lead to the naraka

(hell) ultimately as time in heaven too will tick off

and puNyams get dissolved; one needs to come back to

the karmic diseases].

 

Reporduced here is the extract from Swamy Desikan’s

Raghuveera gadyam – as applicable here on Rama’s

assurance to those who come to perform Saranagati at

His feet: [translated by Sri Sadagopan mama, New York]

 

 

ahita sahodara raksha: parigraha

visamvAdhi vividha sachiva visrambhaNa

samaya samrambha samujjrimbhitha

Sarveswara bhaava ! Jaya! Jaya !

 

Oh Lord! who revealed your svarupam as the Lord of all

Gods during the occasion when you countered the

different arguments of the ministers of Sugreevaa and

energetically motivated them to drop their objections

to accept VibhishaNA as a SaraNAgatha at Your lotus

feet! Hail to Thee! Hail to Thee!

 

(Background): Sri RAmaa had learned about the place of

incarceration of Sita through HanumAn and thereafter

arrived at the Adhi Jagannatha Kshethram on the sea

side with the army of monkeys and bears to launch his

invasion f Lankhaa. At that time, the younger brother

of RaavaNA known by the name of (VibhishaNa) arrived

at that site to seek

the refuge of RAmaa after failing in his efforts to

persuade his brother RaavaNaa to return Sitaa DEvi to

her husband and to seek latter's apology .

 

VibhishaNA cried out from his position in the sky and

described his plight to SugreevA this way: [as

recomemendation]

 

There is an ogre of evil conduct by the name of

RavaNA, who is the Lord of ogres. I am his younger

brother known by the name of VibhishaNA . My brother

kidnapped Sita from Jansthaanam, killed Jatayu and has

incarcerated the helpless Sita. I have vehemently

opposed his despicable deed and asked him to restore

Sita to Rama with apologies. My brother would not

listen to me and has discarded my good advice. I have

abandoned my sons and wife and have left his court and

flown over here to seek refuge at the feet of Rama.

Hence, Please let RaghurAmA, who has the prowess to

protect any one in all the three worlds, know quickly

that I am here seeking his refuge.

VibishaNA's exact words are:

 

tyakthvaa putraamsccha dhaaraamsccha Raaghavam saraNam

gatha :II

nivedhayatha maam kshipram raaghavaaya mahaathmanE I

sarvaloka saraNyaaya vibhishaNam upasthitham II

 

Hearing these words of appeal from VibhishaNa,

SugreevA was alarmed. He thought that the brother of

RavaNaa might kill all of them including Rama and

LakshmaNaa just as an owl would destroy crows. He

advised Rama to turn VibhishaNaa away on the basis of

his reasoning that VibhishaNaa was a Rakshasaa by

birth and a brother of an enemy to boot. The other

members of Sugreevaa's retinue with the exception of

Hanumaan doubted VibhishaNaa's sincerity in seeking

Raamaa's refuge . Some of them felt that he intended

harm and therefore should be killed immediately. The

ministers of Sugreeva such as Sarabhaa, JaambhavAn,

Maindhaa suggested intensive interrogation of

VibhishaNaa before taking a decision to

accept his plea for protection. They were really not

in favour of

listening to VibhishaNaa's soulful cry for help.

 

Hanuman was the last of the ministers to speak.

Valmiki describes Hanuman at this point as the

foremost of counsellors and also as " Samskaara

Sampanna :(One who is learned from his study of

scriptures and Dharma Saastrams). Hanumaan pointed out

brilliantly the fallacies in the arguments of his

fellow counsellors and took the position that

Vibhishana should be accepted as a SaraNaagatha.

Hanumaan ended his analysis by stating that Rama is

the best judge to decide on the next step and act on

whatever that needed to be done.

 

Rama was very pleased with the counsel of Hanumaan

since he felt the same way about VibhishaNaa and his

plight. Rama was very much moved by the counsel of

monkeys, who had his welfare very much on their minds.

He thanked them and then revealed his Parathvam-

Sarveswarathvam by stating that he can not refuse to

receive under ANY circumstances one , who has sought

his protection and approached him in a friendly

manner- even pretending friendship [though with an

evil bent of mind].

 

mitra bhaavEna sampraaptham na thyajEyam kathamchana I

DhOshO yadhyapi tasya syaath sathaamethadhagarhitham

II "

 

(Meaning ):I can not abandon him , who has sought my

protection.

Even if there is any concealed wickedness on the part

of the one, who sought my refuge, he has to be

accepted and that acceptance will not be considered as

a reprehensible act by good people.

 

Swami Desikan salutes here the prowess of Sri Rama as

the unfailing SaraNaagatha Rakshaka and his power as

the supreme Lord of all Gods to fulfil his pledge to

provide the protection to all, who sincerely wished

for his protection.

 

Rama says:

sakRdeva prapannAya……..abahayam sarva bhUtebhyo

dadAmyetad vratam mama || (rAmAyaNa, yuddha. 18.34)

declared by Lord rAma during vibhIshaNa SaraNAgati on

the sea shore) -To him who even once bows to Me saying

that I am Thine, I grant him shelter and protection

from all evils. This is My vow.

 

Thirumazhisai PiraaN ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

 

 

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